Social media have become the most used content distribution channels within B2B content marketing. This is what the Content Marketing Institute teaches us in its annual survey among more than 1,000 content marketers. But how effective is this deployment? According to the same survey, marketers surprisingly indicate that they find this tactic less effective than, for example, case studies, webinars and white papers. The question then arises as to what role social media play in an effective B2B content marketing strategy?
The challenge
To answer this question, let's first look at a brief definition of B2B content marketing:
“B2B Content Marketing is a marketing tactic aimed at sharing knowledge, skills and experience with the latvia phone number list objectives of lead generation, branding and acquiring a thought leadership position.”
From this definition, the roles that social media can fulfill as a marketing tool are as follows:
Sharing knowledge, skills and experience with your target group.
Gaining knowledge and skills in your field.
Helping customers with knowledge, skills and experience.
Allowing customers to help each other by sharing knowledge.
Engage prospects by staying relevant and interactive.
Use of Social Media
That may sound logical, but looking at many of the social media initiatives of, among others, business service providers, this appears to be disappointing. Many of the tweets, Facebook posts and statements on LinkedIn are simply commercial messages. The result is, depending on: a disappointment!